"C'mon, get out of there," I hissed to myself, willing the general to leave his tent and investigate. The flashlight beams were drawing closer. Any moment one would land on me and my plan would go from half-assed to fatal.
Finally, I saw the flap fly open and Bardales stepped out into the darkness. He was not wearing the uniform coat I had seen him in earlier. Instead, he simply wore a wife-beater tank top tucked into his pants. He grumbled and stomped towards the communications tent like a bulldog. When he was a few paces away, I rose to my feet and slipped around the corner and into the tent.
"Jaye!" I said in a hushed rasp. "Are you in here?"
There was no immediate answer, just the shouts and grumbles of the men outside moving about the camp, and the steadily increasing thrum of raindrops falling. I was glad to be out of the rain and was relieved to find that it wasn't completely dark in the tent. A solitary camping lantern hung from a hook in the middle of the tent, providing dim, but usable light.
My eyes searched the tent, darting from place to place. The interior was spartan and utilitarian. Much like Blatt's tent, there was a table under the lamp covered in photographs and maps. In one corner, a desk sat empty and unused. A blue military style footlocker sat opposite of it. Behind the big central table a cloth divider bisected the tent, creating two separate rooms. There was nothing else of interest and I hurried over to the divider.
"Jaye?" I repeated, moving the cloth aside.
The second room was more spartan than the first. The only pieces of furniture were an enormous bed surrounded by mesh mosquito netting and a table that acted as a nightstand. On the nightstand glowed another camp lantern.
Through the screening, I could see that the bed was hardly up to military standards. The sheets were wadded up haphazardly, laying against the back of the tent, and the pillows were disheveled, scattered across the bed. But that was it.
"Damnit!" I said, realizing that Jaye was not there. If she wasn't here, there was nothing I could do about it. I needed to meet Miles and try to get out of here. I turned to leave when I heard it, a sob coming from the other side of the bed. There on the floor, half-naked and curled into a defensive fetal position, was Jaye Mercury. She was convulsing and sobbing softly into her hands.
"Holy shit! Jaye!" I said, louder than before. "Are you alright?"
"Chase?" She muttered through her sobs.
I knelt down to comfort her, pulling a sheet from the bed and placing it over her. "Yeah, it's me."
Her sobbing stopped, and she rolled over to look at me. Her right eye was swollen and purple. A nasty cut split her top lip. I looked her over more closely and could see other bruises scattered up and down her arms.
Her one good eye bore into my own, and I could see the relief in it. "I thought you were dead," she croaked.
"Oh, come on, you of all people should know that it takes more than a little cliff to kill me," I replied. "You, on the other hand, look like hell. Bardales went to town on you, didn't he?"
She broke her eye contact and looked away. "He...," she started.
"Shh," I said, silencing her. "Don't worry about that now. I'm here to get us out of here."
"Us?" She asked, confused.
"Dr. Blatt, too. He's the one that told me you were here. He's also the one who killed the generator to act as a distraction."
"Blatt is here too? I didn't know. Bardales has had me in here since we arrived."
"He is, but we need to go. Bardales will be back soon. Can you stand?" I asked.
Vitality seemed to pour into her. "I can do more than stand. Look in that trunk over there and find me some clothes. Let's get the fuck out of here."
CHAPTER TWENTY
Bardales' trunk contained little that would fit Jaye's trim and athletic build, but she made the best of what was available. Except for her shoes, all of her clothes that I had found in the tent were ripped or destroyed. Bardales was a monstrosity.
I tried to avert my eyes while she was hastily trying on her captor's clothes, but she was unbelievably stunning to look at, and I couldn't help myself. More than once she caught me looking. Anyone who had eyes could have seen my cheeks turn red enough to glow in the dark.
Guilt flooded through me. It was a feeling I had grown accustomed to. Ever since Kelly had died, I always felt guilty when I admired another woman. Part of me remained faithful to her. I knew it was silly, but I still felt it.
This sense of guilt however was a little different. Jaye had been through an unimaginable ordeal. I had found her at her most vulnerable. Bardales had broken her, and even though she wouldn't say it, I was pretty sure he'd also tried to have his way with her. Yet she had pushed that vulnerability, the pain, and the mental anguish aside, and had immediately set about the current task of escaping. I couldn't help but respect and admire her for that.
Not wanting to stand around idly watching her dress, I looked through the rest of Bardales' stuff. The sleeping chamber was mostly devoid of material goods, but there were a few trunks and bags to look through back in the main room.
"Hey, I'm going to look in the other room and see if I can find anything that we can use as a weapon," I said, exiting the bed chamber. Jaye nodded and then pulled a shirt over her torso.
The first bag I looked in contained a few folders and a toiletries kit. I opened the kit, hoping for a straight razor or a knife, but it only contained
